Machiavelli put it this way in _The Discourses_ (trans. Leslie J. Walker, S.J. & ed. Bernard Crick, NY: Penguin Books, 1970), I.4:
***** To me those who condemn the quarrels between the nobles and the plebs, seem to be cavilling at the very things that were the primary cause of Rome's retaining her freedom, and that they pay more attention to the noise and clamour resulting from such commotions than to what resulted from them, i.e. to the good effects which they produced. Nor do they realize that in every republic there are two different dispositions, that of the populace and that of the upper class and that all legislation favourable to liberty is brought about by the clash between them....
...But, someone may object, the means used were extraordinary and almost barbaric. Look how people used to assemble and clamour against the senate, and how the senate decried the people, how men ran helter-skelter about the streets, how the shops were closed and how the plebs _en masse_ would troop out of Rome -- events which terrify, to say the least, anyone who read about them. To which I answer that every city should provide ways and means whereby the ambitions of the populace may find an outlet, especially a city which proposes to avail itself of the populace in important undertakings. The city of Rome was one of those which did provide such ways and means in that, when the populace wanted a law passed, it either behaved in some such way as we have described or it refused to enlist for the wars, so that, to placate it, it had to some extent to be satisfied. (pp. 113-114) *****
One of the questions we may ask is to what extent the U.S. government needs "to avail itself of the populace" in war-making. As of now, the current war is neither like WWII nor the Vietnam War, to execute which the U.S. government had to mobilize the populace in more ways than fanning the flame of patriotism:
***** America's success in routing the Taliban has improved [Ahmad] Chalabi's standing with some elements of Washington's defense community. "They believe they have found the perfect model, and it works," a defense analyst said of the updated war plan. "The model is bombing, a modest insertion of Special Forces, plus an uprising." (Seymour M. Hersh, "The Iraq Hawks," _New Yorker_ 24-31 December 2001, p. 60) *****
Bombing, a modest insertion of Special Forces, and an uprising of U.S.-backed oppositions do not require an extensive and intensive mobilization of U.S. citizens. I'm afraid that Katrina vanden Heuvel, Joel Rogers, and the like haven't pondered this fact. Or perhaps they have, and they are calling for two, three, many Afghanistans. -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Anti-War Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>